How to Grow Tobacco

2 days ago i did a thorough check throughthe patch and was thinking how lucky i was to have (so fara) no bug problems
today i go out and check again and several of the plants are so loaded with aphids the bottoms of the leaves are nearly BLACK!
no $$ here to run for seven or anything so in the house i go and load up with gallons of soapy water and a spray bottle to declare war
a number of leaves are also well coated with white oblong eggs about the same size as the aphids, anyone give a guess what they are from?
thought maybe stink-bugs, but only saw 2 in the entire patch.
will be out again tomorrow brushing off however many i can...

Hi --

The stink bugs here make reddish eggs in staggered rows close together. They stay reddish even after the eggs hatch out. If you have that many aphids, you might should look for aphid nymph pics or maybe they pupate, or could be skins they discarded as they grew out of them.

Hornworms leave isolated single eggs that are green before hatching and white after.

Just remember to wipe all the eggs off the leaves and squish them!

Bob

Sounds like the white eggs we find on the leafs . Are they in a very neat line and one line stacked right close to another line ??

If so I have no idea what they are but have seen them here in Tenn . Usually wads of them about the size of a nickle with probably 100 eggs .

need to look and maybe get a pic tomorrow when i am more CALMLY attacking... lol
from what i recall, they were just widely dispersed all over the leaf.
will try a pic tomorrow...

got the pics now that there was decent light.

also they seem to have chosen just a couple plants to hit hard, and of those the two worst ones were the Zam 52
with the exception of one of those all the rest were in upper leaves-bud area...




close up shot...


look like aphids, but are the eggs from them also?

Hi --

All I see are aphids in the pics. I'm not sure what the white form of aphid is in your pics, immature aphids? Winged form? At first I thought I was seeing whiteflies mixed in with the aphids and it could still be so. What I would do is tap the leaf and watch them fly off because I know what whiteflies look like. I've seen some of the flying aphids before in the field, but not enough to know them on sight.

Here's a pic much like your pic -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid

It has the white things in there too, so I think it's all aphids of some kind or another. If you blow up the picture (aphids on fennel stalk) to full size, you can see they are all smaller than the full sized aphids and have legs on them. Actually, looks like it might just be the discarded skin from an aphid molting!

Here's the pic full size

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Aphids_feeding_on_fennel.jpg

Bob

Righteo, Aphids molt 4 times between birth and their adult stage, leaving white exoskeletons behind on the leaf.



Some insects change very little in form, and the young and adults are similar except for size. This type of development is known as simple metamorphosis. The young, which are called nymphs, usually share the same habitat and feed on the same host as the adults. Nymphs lack wings and reproductive organs. Aphids and leafhoppers are among the insects that go through simple metamorphosis, as do mites.

Argh! I'm seeing more aphid activity now too. So far not on my tobacco, but on the okra, beans and comfrey. Ants are the culprits with me, they farm the aphids and actively "plant" them on my stuff. I didn't see any ants on your affected plants but it might bear watching. For those that need an inexpensive ant bait, here's a "home remedy" that works for me. Borax may work instead of the Roach Pruf.

Here's a recipe I found on the net:
1/4 cup sugar
6 oz water
1 tsp boric acid (I use "Roach Pruf")
Mix vigorously, place in a jar lid with a cotton ball, put it where you see ants. Refill as needed.

It will take a few days to get the colony killed, so refill at least daily

That looks like a very bad infestation of aphids to me is the soap working at all ??

spent a couple hours "washing" leaves
the white things may be casings from molt, as they were pretty well attached to the leaves
sprayed with soapy water to lubricate the leaf, squeegied the leaf off as best i could smashing any critters that didnt come off and then sprayed again to wash as much as i could so i can see better any new invasions...
man is that tireing!
will do it all again tomorrow if i have to and again the next day till i get rid of the suckers!

Here's my take on aphids.

I spent almost a month trying to destroy all those little aphids. Persistence is the key. Best method I've found is to get one of those sprayer wands that can be 'dialed' in to different sprayer settings. I like the fan one. It's good at sweeping down the aphids on the leaf. This one I have is cool because you can dial in the pressure at the wand. It's so easy to tear holes in leaves with the water pressure. so be careful! And this process really sucks to me. Having to hold/lift each leaf to get water to them. They love to hide. But, if you're hot and dealing with 105F and higher temps like we have, it's not a bad thing. Totally soaked to the bone afterwards. Though I do recommend doing this when cloudy or evening when the sun goes down. Otherwise you'll take a chance of burning leaves. On the upside, the plant will love the extra water. =:D

After all that, spray down a mixture of BT and Malathion. The BT doesn't do anything for them, but I feel it's good to add it and keep up on the hornworms. Don't have the time or energy to pick hornworm eggs. Heh. BT is optional. But since I'm there... what the hell, eh?


First week - hosed aphids down, sprayed every 3 days, end of week hose down again and sprayed.
Second week - sprayed every 3 days, hosed down and sprayed.
3rd and 4th week - Sprayed once a week.

Now, they're just a slight maintenance. Malathion is a godsend. It stinks a bit, but it works. Just takes a day or so to really start noticing them dying off. They'll leave a darkened carcass when they're spent. =:)

Just don't delay on doing something. ANYTHING. Those aphids multiply so fast. And they don't go away.

The aphids do like to hide under curls and seem to migrate mostly to the base of the leaf on the underside. So make sure that's sprayed there well. And to me, they seem to gravitate to the suckers. They like the deep green and high nutrients (from what I've read). So picking them off has another positive to it. But, once you get the population down (because you'll never really get rid of them), regular sprays keep it under control.

Damn you bugs. Damn you all to HELL!

*shaking cane skyward* *twitch*

Okay. I feel better now. =:D

Does anyone know if Malathion is rated to be used on tobacco? I've never heard of it being used for tobacco.

The way I figure it, if it's rated for vegetables and fruit, and it doesn't kill or harm the plant, then I'm all for it. Not that there can't be any dangers from using it. It's most very possible. A good dose of common sense (keeping upwind) and moderation is always good to keep in mind. Read the label on the bottle. It's for a wide variety of insects...this stuff kills just about everything. Sorry to say though, it kills the wanted too as well. Bees, lady bugs, etc. It's like dropping a nuke on the garden. But, those are the terms of battle. All is fair in love and war. =:D

Only one caveat on the bottle is that they don't recommend spraying just before harvest. The bottle states to do the last spraying 7 days before harvesting.

I expect a list of things why it's bad for this. All I know, is that the plants are thriving without an extreme amount of aphids sucking the life out of it.

And besides. If it's that bad, why does the fruit and vegetable industry use it? Not that it makes it any better because that they use it. But I'd feel better using a pesticide that has SOME positive history on it.

And really. We're smoking tobacco here. Hehe. Pick your evil. =:D

Don

I have no idea !! To be honest I'm not even sure what it is .


Dave

The problem with using something thats not rated for tobacco is that often combustion changes things that are safe to eat to other or even dangerious new chemicals .

Trying to think of the name but burning something ( thats not that bad ) converts it to dioxen . Most likley miss spelled but it changes something fairly safe to some very bad stuff ( one of the biggest carcinigens )

I agree with the heavy artillery dude just be carefull combustion can change safe chemicals into very bad chemicals .

I'm part of the 'rinsing committee'... so there should be a minimal amount on the leaf. As for combustible? Gads, I hope not. Just the thought of bring home fruits and veggies from the market when they've used it on it. That has to be bad. No one likes exploding fruit.

No one.


As for combustable? I don't know. I haven't found anything out there that supports that. There are dangers listed out there for a variety of reasons. But then again, most pesticides do.

I'm smoking and probably cutting my life short. I'd be more worried about my salt and sugar intake. Hell, the water we drink is full of chemicals. Granted I'm not looking for a way to kill myself any quicker by putting chemicals on it that would make it worse, but it's still smoking. Heh.

I tell you what. I'll keep using it. And when I get to smoke it, I'll let you know if I'm on my way out. =:D